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Palace of the High Duchess, Fishmarket, Avenir
}} The Palace of the High Duchess was a palace situated on 1 Regency Park, Fishmarket, Avenir. It was built in 1710. The palace featured two ballrooms, sixteen bedrooms, seven bathrooms, two dining rooms, a kitchen, chapel, a wine cellar (with an amphora), servant's quarters, and three fountains. It housed the High Duchess of Fishmarket from 1710 to 1735, where she abdicated after the duchy collapsed in the wake of the Great War of the Southern Dukedoms. The vacant building would then be re-purposed as accommodation for the serving mayor of Avenir until 1791, when Ebeneezer Rumens personally selected his move to Rumesholme (then Buccleugh). On the night of January 12, 1941, the palace, save for its cellar, was razed by a wave of incendiary devices, which burnt the building to a shell. Later that day, a second wave of Luftwaffe shelling struck the already-ravaged structure, causing total collapse. Only a few pieces of furniture could be salvaged. History Construction The palace began construction in 1699, and was personally commissioned by the wealthy Locke family, the esteemed aristocratic kin of peerage within Fishmarket. The hereditary High Duchess of Fishmarket, Mallin Locke, personally ordered its construction, outlining the clearance of one of Fishmarket's oldest and most impoverished neighbourhoods. The old palace housed every person within the family, and was situated just adjacent of Regency Park; however, finding it to be overcrowded with the kin and its visitors, the Duchess desired a newer one for the housing of herself and her loved one, who was traditionally kept secreted in Fishmarket unless times of war came about. Regency Park was also ordered to be built; it was a large, seven-acre heath with four fountains, whose construction also resulted in the demolition of peasant housing, and was to act as the centrepoint of the two palaces and the adjoining servant's quarters. On the Duchess's demands, it was to take only a decade to complete; illogical so, however, as the Palace was estimated to take at least twenty-years. However, with over 1,000 men working on the edifice, it was completed in eleven years. During the Great War of the Southern Dukedoms During the Great War of the Southern Dukedoms, the Palace was evicted by the Duchess, who bolstered war morale by visiting soldiers on the Eastern Frontier of Blossom Hill. After the annexation of East Blossom Hill (which became West Fishmarket), she established many infirmaries for injured men. However, in 1735, with Fishmarket struggling to break through Blossom Hill's western front, the Duchess was forced to sign an ultimatum and pact of non-aggression with Blossom Hill, who threatened all-out conflict lest Fishmarket continued the war. The terms of the pact also included the abolition of the Fishmarket Duchy, and to unite under the banner of "Avenir", which would be lead by the anti-monarchist Blossom Hill. With the terms, the Duchess and the Locke Family fled Avenir to the small village of Shrewsbury. The evicted palace would be empty for many years before the new City Council of Avenir would repurpose it as mayoral quarters for Ebeneezer Rumensholme in 1791, the second mayor of Avenir (as mayoral constitution in the 18th century meant mayors could run for as many years as they desired, so the first mayor ran for 25 years). During World War II and Destruction The palace was occupied by the Mayor of Avenir during the war, when it was largely believed Fishmarket was safe from bombing as no air raids were cast over Avenir until December 30, 1940. On January 1, 1941, the mayor announced his departure from Fishmarket, and thus the palace, and ordered Fishmarket residents to "find shelter." The palace functioned as a bomb shelter for the remaining eleven days, when, on January 12, 1941, a 12-inch incendiary bomb, which partially detonated over the building's central atrium and spire, set the structure alight. Some 15 were killed, many of whom were hiding in the cellar. The fire department was exhausted across Fishmarket and thus were never able to save the structure. While still burning, at approximately 21:30pm on January 12, a Luftwaffe shell struck the building causing total collapse. Only the cellar partially survived. Architecture The building was erected in Baroque style, characterised by oblong windows, cornices, as well as statues at the building's main gates. The bricks used were sandstone, the windows sash. A large plaque at the main entrance read "Non autem vel datum non Surge", Latin for "Under Him or Her we Stand." Category:Avenir